Rise to Shadow
by Winter Fleur
Summary: Astril is just entering her sixth year at Hogwarts when he enters her life. And when he does, she is sure. He will be her rise to shadow.
1. First Encounter

Hello everyone! Thanks for reading this, all you great coughunsuspectingcough people! evil laughter

Well, here's my little disclaimer: no, I do not own the Dream team, Hogwarts, Pansy, Draco, or anything else except Astril and the plot (although if I _did_ own Draco... -no, you really don't want to know)

So anyway, here it is!

* * *

Rise to Shadow

Astril Perindon stood on tiptoe, trying to see past a multitude of heads and luggage. Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters was all a bustle with the usual start of term crowds; mostly mothers, holding onto their "baby" first-year's hands with tears in their eyes, telling them for most likely the two-hundred and sixty-first time how much they would miss them. Trunks of every shape and size clattered along the well-used platform, some dirty, some scraped, some clean, some torn in places, others new.

Rolling her eyes at the gushing mothers and fathers (had _her_ mother really been that melodramatic?), Astril began to lug her trunk towards the Hogwarts Express. Her red-gold hair fell down her back in loose, glossy curls, swinging as she walked, and was well on its way to reaching her slender waist. Clear blue-green eyes peered out from beneath long lashes, soft full lips betraying her vulnerability. Her nose was entirely stubborn and slightly buttoned.

Standing on tiptoe, she looked over the top of the crowd again. Was that-

"Oof!" Astril felt her body connect solidly with someone, sending her sprawling onto the pavement none too nobly.

"Watch where you're going, Weasel!" that someone snarled with disdain as he brushed his robes off.

"Excuse me?" she said, peering up at the person from her seat on the ground. Silvery locks of hair fell to brush against his eyelashes and obscure his eyes for the moment, and a sneer was delicately curved on his well-wrought mouth.

"What's the matter Weasley? Cat got your tongue?" That voice… she knew that voice…

"_Malfoy_?" It was more of a statement than a question; he smiled indulgently, mockingly, and flipped his hair to the side, revealing stormy blue-gray eyes.

"_Yes_, Weasley." It took a moment for it to register in Astril' brain; she couldn't stop staring at his eyes. She mentally slapped herself out of her boy-induced stupor. Malfoy? _Malfoy_? Of all the god-cursed, heathen-damned mortals to possess such godlike beauty, it had to be _Malfoy_? "Weasel? Hello?"

A second thought registered in the redhead's brain. "Yeah, well, I hate to be the one to break it to you Malfoy, but it just so happens that not every redhead in this school is a Weasley. The parents didn't get _that_ busy." he smirked slightly, looking at her face and then elsewhere on her body.

"A_hem_," she growled, crossing her arms. He shrugged, smirking.

"Sorry. Should have realized you were too chesty to be a Weasley."

Astril blushed furiously, retorting, "You _would_ gage people by the size of their boobs."

"Naturally." He raised a single eyebrow, as if to question how she could ever think otherwise.

"Well in case you didn't notice, normal people don't usually _do_ that," she said slowly, as if she were talking to a small child. "Although, I'm not sure if horny males qualify as _normal_."

"Oh, it's not horny, Miss Perindon, it's just full appreciation for the female assets."

Astril rolled her eyes at this obviously absurd statement, picking herself up off the ground and dusting off her robes.

"Ri-ight. Well, I think I'll be going. Have to find a seat before they're all taken, so if you'll excuse me?" she smiled sweetly at him, spinning on one heel, and attempted to pull her trunk out from between the lamppost and barrier. She frowned as it refused to budge.

Tugging hopefully, Astril felt her face burn. So much for a smooth departure. Bracing her foot on the barrier, she pulled.

Behind her, Draco smiled bemusedly, attempting to stifle a laugh as the trunk finally wrenched free. Astril stumbled backwards, gleaming burnished copper locks falling into her face. As she recovered, Draco noticed a small white flower tucked into the strands behind her one ear, nestled amongst the sea of loose red-gold waves. Interesting.

As he stood on the worn cement, Draco irritably rubbed the burning spot on his neck, which had just begun to fade. Perindon… could she be-

–No. It wouldn't happen now. It had only been little over a year, for Circe's sake.

* * *

Astril walked along the carpeted hallway of the train, her leather trunk rolling along behind her. Stupid Malfoy. What a perverted prick! Blushing as she thought of the way his eyes had roved over her body, the redhead pushed open a compartment door in the back of the train.

"Perindon?" Astril whirled to look in the compartment. A rather chesty girl was lying across the expanse of two seats, her dark hair brushing her shoulders. Her face was smooth and a bit sharp,although the features were full. Chocolate brown eyes observed Astril, narrowing slightly.

"What are you doing here?" the girl asked, twirling her wand idly between her fingers as though she were contemplating hexing the redhead out the door.

"Well, for a start, I was going to sit down," Astril said nonchalantly, sinking down onto one of the seats.

"No, I mean what are _you_ doing in _my_ compartment?" the girl said coolly.

Shrugging, Astril replied, "Everywhere else is full." Seeing the girl's glower of dislike, she said exasperatedly, "Pansy, look, I'm not a bloody Gryffindor. I'm not going to try to throw holy water on you or hex you or any of their other insane ideas about Slytherins."

Pansy flipped her hair, eyeing the redhead. "Oh? And what, Perindon, makes you so sure I won't shrivel up and die if you _do_ throw holy water on me?" A soft smirk played at the corner of her lips, the merest hint of a joke.

Inwardly, Astril relaxed a bit. The girl could be so _distrustful_ sometimes. "Well, for one thing, I know for a fact that the Dream Team replaced the Slytherins' drinks with the stuff in our fourth year. It was actually quite amusing, really, to watch their faces as they realized they wouldn't get any displays of melting Slytherin flesh."

Pansy's mouth twitched, suggesting a smile. _Suggesting_, mind you. "I'll bet that was entertaining," she mused, before fixing Astril with a stare. "How did you find out about _that_?"

"I have my sources," the redhead answered, suddenly finding great interest in the button on her pocket.

"Oh?"

Astril looked up from the button. "And how did you come to be sitting in a compartment all on your little lonesome?" she challenged.

Pansy started to scowl, then winced. "Point taken." Staring out the window, she said quietly, more to herself than Astril, "We all have our secrets."

* * *

Weeell? How you likee? PLEASE review, you have no idea how much it means to me when I get the little email saying REVIEW ALERT in my inbox. It makes me feel so warm and fuzzy that someone takes the time to write about... yes, I know what you're saying, I CAN HEAR YOU! I _do_ have a life, its just... invisible. Yes, invisible. coughs.

So where was I? Oh yes -REVEEEIIIWWWWWWWWW!


	2. Fears and Tears

Hello again! Here's the next chapter, for those of you who read my story! A special thanks to **PussinBoots**, my first reviewer! Thank you so much!

Oh, and be forewarned: this is rated M for a _reason_! It will begin to get veeeery mature in the coming chapters, so... don't say I didn't warn you!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter yada yada yada yada... blegh, I'm done.

So, here it is... happy reading!

* * *

_She said quietly, more to herself than Astril, "We all have our secrets."_

Astril was about to open her mouth to say something when the compartment door slid open.

"Well, well, what a pleasant surprise," a familiar voice drawled. Without even looking, Astril knew who it was. Pansy, on the other hand, looked up, and her entire demeanor loosened, her mask dropping to reveal tormented eyes. In a split second, the emotion was gone, replaced by the comfortable happiness she embodied whenever the two boys were around.

The redhead would have sworn that something had inhabited Pansy's body and replaced her usual self, because she had never seen the girl relaxed like that.

"Didn't think you knew Perindon," Draco said agreeably as he sat down next to Pansy. Astril purposefully ignored him, and turned back to her own corner to be met with a pair of deep blue eyes.

"Hello," Blaise greeted, grinning at the redhead's obvious discomfort.

"Blaise, be nice," Pansy called wanly. "Or you'll be deprived for the first week." Astril had a pretty good guess as to what Blaise would be deprived of.

"You couldn't hold out on that, love, I know you too well."

Pansy listlessly allowed him pull her onto his lap.

Astril tried not to stare. They were being civil in a non-Slytherin's presence. They had to be on something. Yes, that was it. They were on something. Maybe pot… no, that was a muggle drug… moonflower? Hmm. Or maybe dragon fang-

"Got something to say?" Draco said, looking at her purposefully and breaking her out of her thoughts. "Or do you enjoy staring at me?"

Astril made sure her most disgusted face was hurriedly put on before replying, "Stare at _you_? Maybe you _are_ on something." Grabbing her robes out of her trunk, she said, "Pansy, I'm changing. You can come with me if you want; it's going to be hard to clear out more than one compartment." She still couldn't forget the look on the girl's face when her mask had first disappeared.

The dark-haired girl looked up from snogging Blaise. "I usually just change here. They don't seem to mind."

"Yes, Perindon, we don't mind," Draco added. "By all means, the compartment's yours. Feel free to disrobe at any time."

Astril used the most sarcastic tone she could manage. "Right. While you perverts stand here staring at me."

"Oh no, I can assure you, Blaise is quite busy for the moment. So, you have no need to worry."

Astril rolled her eyes and walked out, uniform robes in hand.

* * *

"You might want to stop messing with it, mate. You'll only make it worse." Blaise watched as Draco rubbed his neck again.

"There's nothing _to_ make worse, you twit," Draco said irritably. "It's like bloody electric shocks keep poking me."

"Well, maybe she needs to talk to you," Blaise said, spearing a piece of chicken with his fork and observing it thoughtfully. "When was the last time she came in your dream?"

"I don't know," the seventeen-year old said, running his fingers through his soft hair. "Not recently. Why the bloody woman doesn't talk to me _normally_ I don't –ow! Gods damn it, I'm sorry!" Draco clapped a hand to his neck.

"Well, that's settled, then," the dark-haired boy said pleasantly. "Just toddle on down to the dormitories and go to sleep."

"Easy for _you_ to say," Draco grumbled. "You don't have to deal with her in all her queenly glory."

Getting up from the table, he started down to the dungeons in a slow walk. What could she possibly want to talk to him about?

* * *

Yawning, Astril stumbled out of the Great Hall and down the corridor towards the bathrooms. Never again would she let herself be dared into drinking five goblets of pumpkin juice… nasty stuff, she had always thought.

Walking past a rather inappropriate portrait of a troll and a giantess, the redhead made her way into the girls' toilets, pushing open the door.

A sound rather like a sniff met her ears, followed by a somewhat weak "get out". Astril's face softened as she realized someone was crying, and padded gently over to the stall.

"Pansy?"

The girl looked up, her eyes puffy and red. Her lips were swollen with the kiss of tears, and her eyes were glassy.

"Didn't you hear me? I said get out," she whispered angrily, her voice hitching.

"What's wrong?" Astril asked quietly.

"It's none of your fucking business, Perindon!" Pansy hiccupped, burying her face in her hands. "What is it, you think just because you butted yourself into my compartment on the train, we're all buddy-buddy? Think again. No one can understand, least of all _you_."

"And what makes you so sure of that?" Astril challenged softly. "You're not the only one with problems."

"Oh? I don't think anyone h-has to worry about whether th-their friends will b-be k-k-"At this, Pansy started sobbing again, heaving uncontrollably. Feeling a bit timid, in case the girl lashed out again, Astril hugged her, rubbing Pansy's back and letting her cry on her shoulder. The girl didn't even try to resist, and let flow what Astril guessed was a long-hidden torrent of worry and tears.

"Shh, shh, it's alright," Astril whispered. She could feel her back and shoulder getting soaked; it didn't really matter.

They stayed like that for a long time, until with a rather watery chuckle Pansy said, "If anyone comes in here and sees this, you, Perindon, were calling me a slut, and I was knocking you to the ground."

"_That_ sounds more like you," Astril replied kindly. Sniffing, Pansy drew back, wiping her eyes with one hand and attempting to smile.

"Sorry I got you all wet."

"It's all right," Astril pardoned. "Do you want to talk about it? You don't have to if you don't want to, but it can help."

"I don't know," Pansy said, rubbing her face. "It's j-just so hard. You have no idea what it's like, having death eaters for parents. There's so m-much pressure; sometimes it feels like I can barely breath. And Draco and Blaise… they don't have that, b-but it's so much _worse_. The dark lord wants them to fill the roles left by their fathers… he _needs_ their power. And they, b-being the wonderfully stubborn things they are, keep refusing him, and it just makes him madder. I know they're strong, but there's only so much you can do if you've g-got an en-entire _a-army_ against y-y-you!"

Pansy began to cry again.

Murmuring comfort in her ear, Astril gave the dark-haired girl another hug and went over to the sink to soak her handkerchief in cold water. When she came back, Pansy seemed to be attempting to regain her composure; she breathed in deeply through her nostrils, attempting to stop the bouts of hysteric hiccups bubbling from her throat.

"You think I'm a bumbling idiot, don't you?" Pansy said, accepting the wet kerchief and throwing it over her face.

"Of course not," Astril said. "You probably haven't had a good cry in a long time; _I_ certainly wouldn't be able to hold it all in. I'd either explode, or I'd be a walking, sniveling human faucet." She rubbed Pansy's shoulder. "Everyone needs to cry sometimes."

"Tell that to Blaise and Draco," she muttered darkly. "Oh no, too _manly_ to tell me what's wrong, too _manly_ to let me give them a shoulder to cry on. They just keep it all to themselves, that's what they do." She blew her nose. "Selfish little prats," Pansy added affectionately.

"I think I hear everyone coming out of dinner now," Astril said suddenly. Looking at Pansy, she added, "Do you want me to walk with you?"

"I'm not _that_ helpless, thank-you very much," she retorted, giving a watery smile.

"Good. Because I just remembered that I had to pee very bad when I came in here, so if you'll excuse me?"

Astril entered into one of the other stalls, Pansy's laugh ringing in her ears as the Slytherin exited the bathroom.

* * *

Another side of Pansy unveiled. And who _is_ the woman that Draco and Blaise are going on about? All shall be revealed in time...

* * *


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